A video conference endpoint includes a microphone to capture sound from a participant in a room and then the endpoint transmits the captured sound to a conference server or another endpoint. The microphone best captures sound from the participant if the position of the participant (i) falls within a sound pick-up range of the microphone, and (ii) is aligned with a receive beam of the microphone if the microphone is directional. Typically, the participant is not aware of either the pick-up range or the directionality of the microphone array and may, therefore, be positioned sub-optimally with respect to the microphone. Complicating the situation further is the fact that the sound pick-up range for the microphone depends on acoustic characteristics of the room, which are also unknown to the participant.